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The Prophet Muhammad was born in the Arabian territory known today as Saudi Arabia in the year 570 CE. Muhammad's father was Abdullah, son of Abd-al-Muttalib a highly esteemed hanif who lived near the city of Makkah. Muhammad's mother was Aminah who was widowed shortly after her marriage and before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

Tradition indicates that Muhammad's grandfather Abd-al-Muttalib was a visionary mystic who among other things is reputed to have been show the location of an ancient water supply. The same water supply which the angel revealed to Hajar, wife of Ibrahim in ancient times.

Other legends surrounding the birth of Muhammad indicate that before he was born his mother heard voices indicating his greatness and that his birth heralded the beginning of a heavy downfall of rain breaking a long drought.

According to the custom of the times, Muhammad was given into the care of the Bedouin woman Halimah until his sixth birthday. At this time he was returned to the care of his mother Aminah. Sadly though, she died soon after leaving Muhammad an orphan.

After the death of his mother Muhammad was cared for first by his grandfather Abd-al-Muttalib and then ultimately raised by his uncle Abu Talib, a merchant of considerable wealth and standing.

The tradition shows that Abu Talib had Muhammad work as a shepherd initially, however, after proving himself capable and trustworthy, Muhammad was inducted into the business affairs of his uncle.

One of the merchants Muhammad met in the course of his travels was the wealthy widow Khadija who would ultimately become Muhammad's wife. Before their marriage, Khadija employed Muhammad as a kind of manager of her traveling caravan.

When they married Muhammad was 25 while Khadija was 40. The marriage lasted until Khadija's death some 25 years later. The marriage of Mohammed and Khadija saw the birth of six children. Two sons Qasim and Abdullah who tragically died during their infancy and four daughters Zainab, Ruqaiyyah, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah.

In the household of Muhammad and Khadijah, two other children also lived. The first was Ali, son of Muhammad's uncle Abu Talib who had become destitute. The other was Zaid ibn Haritha, a slave child, given as a gift to Kahdija but ultimately freed by Muhammad and brought up as his own son.

Muhammad's life became increasingly focused on meditation and prayer and the tradition indicates that he spent many long periods in solitude. Such was the situation when in his 41st year he experienced the life changing event known as the night of power "Laylat-ul-Qadr".

The night of power occurred while Muhammad was praying alone in a cave on Mount Hira. He experienced a voice calling his name and commanding him to proclaim "Iqra". A scroll was revealed to Muhammad, however, despite his other achievements, Mohammed remained illiterate and therefore could not read the writing on the scroll.

The angel Jibril appeared the Muhammad three times and ordered him to read aloud, each time he declared himself incapable of doing so. Suddenly in a powerful breakthrough the Prophet Mohammed sensed internally what the words were and he began to proclaim them from his heart without having the ability to read them.

After Muhammad returned home he told Khadija of the events, however, initially she feared that it may have been a demonic experience. Later, after reassurance from her cousin Waraqa ibn Nufal she accepted the message and became the first to believe.

Despite the force of the initial revelation, Muhammad remained reticent about his experience and few people beyond his immediate family knew of the experience. He reflected on his experience for nearly two years before experiencing further revelations.

The angel Jibril appeared to Muhammad again with the command to proclaim the message "arise and warn! Glorify Allah! Make your garments pure! Give up all uncleanness. Give, without expecting any return. For the sake of your Lord, endure with patience!" (surah 74:1-7).

This revelation saw the beginning of Muhammad's preaching which he continued for the rest of his life, all the while receiving further messages and instructions from Allah.

The Prophet Muhammad in obedience to the message he received began to preach to the people of Makkah. The message was essentially that there was but one true God, Allah and that the eternal destiny of human kind was tied to the acceptance of the message preached by Muhammad.

The message was emphatically monotheistic and allowed no place for the worship of idols so common among the people of Makkah. It was a message founded in the tradition of the prophets Ibrahim, Musa and Isa. Ultimately people had to choose to accept or reject the message, however, if they chose to reject it then the consequences would be dire.

Muhammad's preaching was not well received by the people of Makkah and he was widely ridiculed. Ridicule turned to hostility with the realisation that an acceptance of the Prophet's message would mean an end to the lucrative enterprise associated with the worship of idols in Makkah

Tensions soon escalated in Makkah and some of Muhammad's followers were threatened culminating in the death of Bilal who is regarded as the first martyr of Islam. Muhammad himself would have been in danger but for the patronage of his uncle Abu Talib.

In 619 the Prophet Muhammad experienced what Muslims call the year of sorrows. In the course of the year both Muhammad's wife Khadija and his uncle and patron Abu Talib died. This left Muhammed vulnerable to the threats and persecution of his opponents in Makkah.

During the year of sorrows and amid the persecution in Makkah, the Prophet Muhammad experienced another great vision. This vision is known as the Laylat-ul-Mi'raj. It refers to the extraordinary experience of the night journey where as the Prophet Muhammad lay sleeping he was visited by the angel Jibril who took him to Jerusalem and then through the seven heavens to finally see a vision of paradise and of hell. The experience culminated with the Prophet Muhammad being brought into the presence of Allah.

It was in the course of this night journey that the Prophet Muhammad received the instruction that people should pray five times each day. Accordingly this has been reflected in Muslim practice ever since.

Soon after, while preaching in Makkah, Muhammad was approached by a delegation from the city of Yathrib. Muhammad was urged to come to Yathrib and advise them. He agreed to do so but only after they pledged to give their full allegiance to Allah and to turn away from evil.

The journey to Yathrib was to be a perilous one. Once out of Makkah, Muhammad's enemies could have easily killed him with impunity. On the journey Muhammad had to hide in a cave to avoid his pursuing adversaries.

The tradition tells that Muhammad's enemies found the cave where he was hiding, though miraculously a spider had woven a web across the entrance giving the appearance that no one had passed through. Thus the cave was not searched and Muhammad escaped and journeyed safely to Yathrib. The journey to Yathrib is known as the Hijrah which means the migration.

The Prophet received a very warm welcome when he arrived in Yathrib and he was quickly accepted as a wise and respected leader. In Yathrib Muhammad built a house which is known as "masjid" and is regarded as the first mosque.

Muhammad lived in this house with his wives whom he had married after Khadijah's death. It is believed that he married twelve other women. Of these only the youngest Aishah would be significant in the development of Islam.

In embracing the message and welcoming the Prophet, Yathrib was renamed as Madinah. This happened in the year 622 CE which subsequently came to be regarded as year one in the Muslim calendar. The dates are reckoned from this time and are designated with the letter AH which means "after Hijrah".

Over the next decade Muhammad worked with the people of Madinah. He was effectively their political as well as religious leader. During this time he developed a constitution for Madinah outlining the rights and responsibilities of Muslims and non Muslims in Madinah.

His teaching incorporated the need for regular fasting as well as the requirement of the regular prayer times as revealed in the night journey. He arranged for money to be collected and given to the poor.

Following some conflicts with Jews living in Madinah, Muhammad established a treaty with them providing for their religious freedom in respect for them as followers of Musa. However, it was during this time that the Prophet Muhammad received the revelation that Muslims should face Makkah when praying and not Jerusalem as had been the previous practice. Likewise the custom of fasting on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur was to be replaced with the Ramadan fast.

While Muhammad was in Madinah conflict continued with his enemies in Makkah. After various incidents a major battle was fought at al-Badr when despite being greatly outnumbered, Muhammad's forces prevailed. This was followed by another battle at Mount Uhud where this time Muhammad's forces were defeated, though the Prophet escaped with only slight injuries.

Following other battles and a short lived truce the Prophet Muhammad led the definitive battle for Makkah in 630 CE. He was easily able to capture Makkah and claim it in the name of Allah. Thus Makkah became the holy city of Islam, dedicated to Allah.

Two years later the Prophet Muhammad returned to Makkah on a pilgrimage and preached his famous last sermon on the Mount of Mercy. Shortly after returning to Madinah he became ill. Within a short time his illness worsened and his death came.

According to the tradition, the Prophet Muhammad died at 63 years of age in 632 CE. He was buried in the room where he died which has now become a place of pilgrimage for Muslims.